Tag Archives: level 1

Military English exams for foreigners

Stanag6001 – Military English exams in Poland

It has been a long time since I received some questions about military English exams in Poland for the first time. I have never tried to answer such questions thouroughly on my website. I rather dealt with them in e-mails or via vcita widget. It’s high time to wrap up all the necessary information and provide you with the complete guide. If you follow my channel on YouToube you might have noticed the first part of this guide on ‘where and when to sit an exam in Poland’:

What you cannot find in this video are the crucial details, such as an application letter and the proper addresses of the Polish institutions. That is why at the bottom of the article you have the full list of them with the handy example/template of a letter.

Exams on level 3 or 4

In Poland you can take a military English exam according to Stanag6001 on any level you wish, but procedures are different depending on the level. The only school authorised to accept foreigners for level 3 and 4 exams is WSNJO in Łódź (The Polish Armed Forces School of Languages). It is also the seat of Central Examinations Board for Foreign Languages of the Ministry of National Defence (CEBFL). If you want to take a level 3 or a level 4 exam you must obtain a consent from the Director of The Science and Military Education Department (POL: Dyrektor Departamentu Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wojskowego). To seek his consent you must write an application letter and send it via post to the following address:

The letter should contain multiple pieces of information, mostly to identify your person and to allow Polish Counter Intelligence services to conduct background checks before allowing you to enter Polish military facilities (all exams take place in military universities, schools or other military-run institutions). Therefore you must provide as the minimum:

Good news: You can write your letter in English – it does not have to be in Polish 🙂

The exam is free of charge, even for the foreign soldiers!

Bad news: only foreign active-duty soldiers can apply for sitting an exam in Poland. There is a strict, small limit of places available for each session – the first to apply, the first to serve, so planning your session much in advance makes sense and make your chances bigger.

At the bottom of the article you can download a template of an application letter you could use for your own case. It is just an example with different versions of justification, which might work or might be completely disregarded/rejected – no guarantee on the success of your effort! I marked my comments (or example entries) with the red font – be sure to remove/replace them in your final application. Three versions of justification do not go together, so you must choose one of them or place your own one instead.

Level 1 or 2

If you want to take a level 1 or a level 2 exam, your chances for the successful application are significantly greater. It is more likely to be allowed for the exam, because there are more places where you can sit them and more slots available for the foreigners (non-Polish soldiers). The bad news is that any exams on level 1-2 are organized on commercial basis so they are subject to some fees (usually 200-260 PLN = c. 45-55 EUR). The decision maker is also different. Instead of writing to the Director of The Science and Military Education Department, you should write directly to the Head of the institution where the exam will be organized. And here we have a plethora of choices – see the attached pdf for reference.

The only problem is to identify the proper level exam, its place and the date. You must seek such data in each facility seperately, tracing their announcements on their websites. I have already published the map comprising all of these institutions marked with red colour there. Just refer to the map included in the previous article about language courses in Poland. In the downloading manager below you can find the full list of military institutions along with their web addresses for faster inquiries. Whenever it was possible, the links provided will lead you directly to the site of language centres. Unfortunately, all relevant information concerning the dates of the exams are available only in the Polish versions of the webpages. What’s more, some language centres require a specific template of an application letter (different from the one I provide), however, a foreigner could be exempt from following it as it is entirely in Polish. That must be verified on case-to-case basis.

Good luck and keep me posted if you succeeded or need any help to make it happen.

Conjunctions – introduction

Whenever you want to show your proficiency in writing or speaking you should demonstrate that you are capable of writing longer, more complex sentences. It is not possible without a proper conjunction though. Putting two ideas from seperate single sentences into one sentence requires from writers/speakers to use conjunctions. Today, I will present the basic set of conjunctions to use to make logical connection between the ideas you want to sell. This basic set, often described as a mnemonic FAN BOYS, Continue reading “Conjunctions – introduction to compound and complex sentences” »

Level 1 examination paper from military English exams

Below you will find the original examination paper from Polish military exams testing English proficiency on level 1, according to STANAG 6001.
You can test your current knowledge by doing this test and then cross-checking your answers with the answer key at the bottom of the page. In case of any doubt, do not hesitate to contact me or just take more English tests to practice before the exam.

Level 1 Reading comprehension

(L1/R/002)

Zadanie 1

Tekst 1
The other day I was driving home after visiting my wife’s mother. The journey was very long and my wife and I were very tired. There were a lot of road works and it was difficult to drive. I stopped at traffic lights and waited for a green light. I looked in my mirror and saw there were no cars behind me. I thought this was strange, but then saw the bus sign. I was in a special lane for buses. I knew this was bad, but it was too late to change. Continue reading “Reading test – level 1 (examination paper)” »

Below you will find the set of 9, original English examination papers from the Speaking part of the military English exams, recently conducted in Poland – courtesy of The Polish Armed Forces School of Languages (PAFSL).

L1/S/002

Part 1a
– What’s your name? Can you spell it?
– What do you do?

Part 1b
1) Tell us about your house/flat.
[ wypowiedź zdającego ]
1. How many rooms does it have?
2. Describe the rooms that you have.
3. Would you like to change your home?